The present invention relates to cigarette cartons, and more particularly, to cartons which allow for easy access to the cigarette packs contained therein.
Cigarette packs (which usually contain twenty cigarettes) are generally rectangular in shape, having front and back long walls connected by two short side walls. Cigarette packs are typically packaged by the manufacturer in cigarette cartons, and are arranged so that the front long walls of the packs are in the same plane and the back long walls are in a parallel plane spaced from the plane of the front long walls. The filled cartons are usually temporarily closed and shipped to various distributors. The distributors generally open the cartons to apply the tax stamp that may be required by the jurisdiction in which they operate to an end of each cigarette pack while the packs are still inside the cartons. Such procedures are commonly automated, to reduce time, cost, and labor, through the use of specially designed machines for applying tax stamps. Tax-stamping machines have been developed to open the cartons, apply the stamps, and finally seal the cartons for distribution. Such machines are generally commercially available, and are well known in the art. These machines have been developed for ten-pack cartons, i.e., cartons containing two rows of five cigarette packs per row. A typical tax-stamping machine is model FUSON manufactured by Meyercord of 365 East North Avenue, Carol Stream, Ill. 60187.
Single row cigarette cartons which are dimensioned to contain one row of five cigarette packs (five columns of cigarette packs), i.e., five-pack cartons, are also known in the art. However, although machinery exists for manufacturing such cartons, machinery does not exist for stamping the cigarette packs contained in such cartons. Consequently, such single row cartons must either be hand-stamped (as is done currently) or would have to be secured together in pairs in order to be run through the existent commercially available tax-stamping equipment in which double row cartons are stamped. To assure that the tax stamp is properly registered, the means for securing the cartons must be strong enough to keep the cartons together such that they are not sheared apart by the vertical rollers of the tax-stamping machines which roll along the vertical walls of the cartons to transfer the cartons between the various stages of the process.
Although single row cartons may be sufficiently secured together such that they may be passed through commercially available tax-stamping equipment, other problems which occur during tax-stamping must be addressed. One major disadvantage of using commercially available tax-stamping equipment for processing cartons for which the equipment was not designed is that the equipment usually does not adequately handle cartons having top flap configurations different than flap configurations on cartons ordinarily processed. Tax-stamping machines generally include equipment which opens the temporarily closed cartons so that the ends of the cigarette packs are accessible for application of a tax stamp. Tax-stamping machines also generally include equipment which closes the cartons after the tax stamp is applied, so that the carton is in condition for distribution to consumers. Commercially available tax-stamping machines, designed for processing ten-pack cartons, often cannot handle the top flaps of five-pack cartons to open and later close the cartons adequately, thus interfering with the tax-stamping process.
Another disadvantage related to the tax-stamping process, in general, is that the process by which the cartons are re-sealed often does not allow for easy access by the consumer to the cigarette packs contained within the cartons.